英语教师在课堂中的角色

Teacher’s Role in Middle School English Teaching

in Classroom

1. Brief Introduction of the Subject

Teaching in class is the main form of teaching in our middle schools. It is in the classroom that an English teacher is to cultivate the listening, speaking, reading and writing abilities of the students, give knowledge of phonetics, grammar and vocabulary and train the mind of students and get them educated morally, intellectually and physically. So, teachers playing proper roles in the classroom is of vital importance.

The roles of the teacher will depend to a large extent on the function he performs in different activities. A lot of efforts have been devoted to researches on teacher’s roles. For example, from Richards’s (1990) understanding, the following are among the kinds of roles teachers may see for themselves in the classroom: 1) monitor of student learning; 2) motivator; 3) organizer and controller of pupil behavior; 4) provider of accurate language models; 5) counselor and friend; 6) needs analyst; 7) materials developer; 8) evaluator. Based on the function the teacher performs in different activities, Harmer defines the teacher’s roles as controller, assessor, organizer, prompter, participant and resource-provider (Harmer, 1983.201). The latter are the most common roles that teachers play in present-day foreign language teaching and are the ones we talk in this paper.

2. Definitions of Role and Teacher’s Role

The word “role” derives from the drama. In 1934, G. H. Mead used it firstly to refer to a part a person play in the performance of social life. Later, Ellis& McClintock (1990) defines the role as the participant in any act of communication which involves his particular status, identity and behavior. They involve different kinds of work, levels of responsibility, kinds of relationships, patterns of interaction and communication, and power relationships.

In education, according to Nunan (1993), the role refers to the social and interpersonal responsibility assumed by teachers and learners as class participants and the part teachers and learners play in fulfilling learning tasks. The role of teacher is primarily an occupational role, predetermined by the nature of schools and of teaching. Teachers interpret their roles in different ways depending on the kinds of schools in which they work, the teaching methods they employ, their individual personalities, and their cultural background. Classroom teaching is the teaching behavior happens in the classroom. Teachers can use a variety of classroom activities to achieve the teaching objectives and many of their roles can be seen directly in classroom teaching.

3. Teacher’s Roles in Classroom

3.1 Controller

An appropriate degree of control of the teacher over the class is vital in formal

language teaching. The teacher controls the pace so that activities run smoothly and efficiently. For instance, when students do skimming and scanning tasks, it is very important for the teacher to control time. When doing lockstep activities, the teacher controls the whole class so that everyone has equal chance. When students do reproduction activities, the teacher’s control can make sure the students use certain target language items and their reproduction has a degree of accuracy.

When we talk about the advantages of teacher control, we stick to appropriate degree of control. Over-control will do no less harm to students than no control at all. Besides, different activities needs a different degree of control. Some teachers use terms like controlled practice, half-controlled practice, and free practice to indicate where control is needed and where control should be relaxed. We believe that the more communicative an activity is, the less control it needs.

3.2 Assessor

It is generally believed it is a major part of a teacher’s job to assess the students’ work. According to Harmer, as an assessor, the teacher does two things, that is, correcting mistakes and organizing feedback. Harmer insists that correcting should be gentle. Gentle correcting involves showing that incorrectness has occurred, but not making a big fuss about. Organizing feedback is an effective way to assess students’ performance so that they see the extent of their success or failure. When organizing feedback, it is very discouraging for the teacher to be critical. Rather, we believe teachers should focus on students’ success or progress

so that a success-oriented learning atmosphere can be created.

3.3 Organizer

The most important and difficult role that he teacher has to play is to be an organizer. Nowadays many approaches and methods advocate task-based activities. So one of the teacher’s major tasks is to design and organize tasks that students can perform in the class. It is in doing this that teachers have the most freedom and most challenge, and it is where the teacher can exert creativeness in an unlimited way.

Before organizing an activity in the class, the teacher should envisage what the activity is going to be like. He should also anticipate problems that may arise when the activity is being carried out. Before students start the activity, the teacher should give instructions clearly and concisely so that students know how to do what. Sometimes a teacher demonstration can help. And if necessary, use students’ native language to clarify.

While students are doing the activity, the teacher should walk around the classroom and overhear what the students are saying. If some students are not doing the right task, the teacher should rectify. Taking notes in mind will help the teacher to provide accurate feedback later.

3.4 Prompter

When students are not sure how to start an activity, or what to do next, or what to say next, the teacher should give appropriate prompts. For instance, if students find it difficult to start talking in a task where they have to choose one of five places to go for an outing, the teacher may tell them to consider distance, means of transport, time available, safety, etc. When a student doesn’t seem to be ready for an answer, the teacher can give hints; when a student finishes with a very answer, the teacher should elicit more by saying ‘and...?’ ‘Anything else?’ ‘Yes, but why...?’

3.5 Participant

Task-based teaching methods encourage the teacher to participant in students’ activities. Once the teacher has finished giving instructions, and the activity has started, there is no point for the teacher to stand in front of the classroom doing nothing. Besides monitoring the class, the teacher can also join one or two groups as an ordinary participant. However, the teacher should change his role once he joins the students. He should not dominate or appear to be authoritative, though students regard it a good chance to practice English with someone who speaks it better than themselves.

3.6 Resource-provider

Although the jug-and-mud method has been widely criticized, the teacher is still considered a good and convenient resource for the students. In this sense, the teacher’s role is the same as the role of instruction materials. However, when

students are supposed to work on their own, the teacher should withhold his readiness to provide resources.

4. Examples

4.1 The Teacher as Controller

1) The teacher gives students 2 minutes to skim a text, and when time is up, he asks students to stop and answer some questions.

2) The teacher asks students to take turns to make sentences with a newly learned structure. If someone makes an error, the teacher asks him or her to revise.

3) The teacher asks students to produce conversations (either orally or in writing) by using particular patterns or expressions they have just learned.

4.2 The Teacher as Assessor

1) When a student has made a sentence with borrow, ‘I borrowed a paper to write a letter’, the teacher says, ‘Well, we don’t say a paper, we say a piece of paper.’

2) When the students have in groups decided where to go for a spring outing, the teacher asks each group to tell the others why they have made such a choice.

4.3 The Teacher as Organizers

The teacher writes one of five numbers (1-5) on a number of cards (the same number as the students). Each student draws one card. Those who have drawn number 1 will form group 1, and those who have drawn number 2 will form group 2. Thus the students are put into five groups in a random way.

4.4 The Teacher as Prompter

1) T: Do you have any hobbies？

S: Yes, I like singing and dancing.

T: Uhm, and...?

S: I also collect coins.

T: Oh, really, how many coins have you already collected?

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2) The teacher asks a student a question ‘Have you ever bought clothes with problems?’ If the student doesn’t seem to be ready to answer, the teacher says ‘for example, a shirt without...’ and points to the buttons on his own shirt or jacket.

4.5 The Teacher as Participant

1) When students are doing a group-work task, the teacher joins one or two groups for a short period of time.

2) The teacher has a word in his mind and asks students to guess by asking only Yes/No questions until they make the correct guess.

4.6 The Teacher as Resource-provider

While doing a writing task either individually or in groups, the students need to use a particular word they don’t know. So they ask the teacher.

5. Summary

Teacher roles are related ultimately to assumptions about language and language learning at the level of approach. That is, different approaches stipulate different roles for the teacher. However, there are some common roles that teachers play in most of the major approaches, such as controller, assessor, organizer, prompter, participant and resource-provider. Besides, every role is not separated. A real good teacher is one who can not only play a certain kind of role well, but all the roles, and can play several roles spontaneously at the same time. Teachers are greatly in charge of the classroom teaching, if they can’t appropriately play their roles, however advanced and effective teaching approaches they use, it will be inefficient. Thus, teachers should pay as much attention to their roles as the teaching methods.